Machine gunlock



May 30, w50 P. R. HlGsoN 2,509,640

MACHINE GUNLOCK Filed Nov. 2, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTO P. R. HIGSONMACHINE GUNLOCK May 30, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 2. 1946 m T N Vw P. R. HIGSON MACHINE GUNLOCK May 30, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov.2. 1946 ATTOQNEYS Patented May 30, 1950 UN'l'lfED PATENT DFE-Fi l?lasoam MACHINE GUNLoc-K Percy Reuben Hfigsn, Wesfmllsfl'; @hdmi Eng'Yland, assigner' to Vickers-Armstrongs, Limitej, London, England, 'acompany of Greatritain Application November 2, 1946, serial NoP 7oz-,394,In Great-Britain Gictobel 293 1195.15

section 1,rub1icLaw ceaAngust 1946 Patent expires October 29, 1965 2.Gianna This invention relates to -machlne'guns of the barrel recoilingtype, and generally :know-n as the Vickers type in which,` as shown inUnited. States Patent v`No. 2,013,312, the firing vis operated duringthe locking action of V'afsid'e*lever to which is connected the recoilof the spring, this side lever actuating a reciprocating breech bloei;with which is associated a ring pin operated during the' locking actionof vthe `side lever, this side lever, in 'effect acting as aconnectingrod across the reciprocatingbeechblock and a crans Yintwirig an axis ofoscillation substanuauy intersecting an axis containing the aforesaidside lever and breech block whenin the firing position, so that when inthe firing DS- tion the side lever and crank occupy substantially adead-"centre relationship ibut move to :angular relationship when thebreech lolock withdrawn. 'The object 'of the invention is to simplifyCon'- siderabi'y the locking and firing .mechanism so as to dispensewith r the cooking Qf the rne pin.

According to the present invention a machine gun of the Vickers type irlwinch the firing om is operated during the locking action of 'a .sidelever actuating a reciprocating A.breech block, is' characterised inthat .the rir'ie Din displaceable to the n'rng' position in 'andrelatively to the breech block, andthe side lever drives the nring .pinforwardly relatively to the breech blocl; to Yre the gun upon closing'the breech.

In carrying one form of the rinvention v:into practice there isVcombinefwith `rrieans, for translating the cartridges successively fromthe feed box to the barrel, a Side lever -pvoted to the breech blockaccommodating the firing pin and extractor, the -rng pin and the Seidlever having 12o-operating opposed 'parts adapted V:to be abuttedtogether when the lever is moved into the locked nositionlthearrangement being that the forward movement and the ring of thecartridges is controlled by thecontact between the side lever and thefiring pinkwhen bringing the firing mechanism tothelocked position.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and .readilycarried intoeffect, drawings are appended hereto illustrating anembodiment thereof, and wherein,

Figure 1 is a broken sectional side elevation of a Vickers machine gunbreech mechanism in the firing position and embodying the presentinvention,

Figure 2 is a sectional side elevation showing the breech mechanism withthe breech block a full recoil and with a round positioned ready forramming into the breech,

4Figure 3 is a sectional elevation .of Athe breech in the firingposition and `firing the vlast round. and

Figure 4 4is a `sectional elevation showing the cartridge case of the'last round being ejected'. Y Referring to the draw-ings, the'breech13100K is in the form of a housing I .for the ring pin 5 and is .formed.at its rear fend with a .pendant abutment 2 adapted to `trip over aspring loaded scar-3 which normally prevents forward transla-:tivemovem'ent ofthe housing I and thecartridge C2 which is hield by itsrim `in Yknown manner between the flanges IIa, of la, 'guide I1upstarrd.-

ing from vthe front end .of :the housing '1, the rou-nd being lheld inalignment with ythe barrel B when the housing is held back Yby the sear:3 (as shown in Figure 2) byathe downward pressure vof the :lower frontcorner part 15a of a carrier I5 reciprocating in the guide IfTI, thecartridge being abutted against a stop in the form of a spring loaded.detent '5. accommodated :in the front end of the housing immediatelysubjacent the tapered bore 5c :receiving the operative ,end nf thefir-ing pin 5*, the ring pin ebody reciprocating' in the A'cylindr-ioalbore v6 of `the housing. this connection the firing -pln has only aivory small displacerrler1t relatively tothe -housing e. g.

not more than `oneeigl'i'th .of an inch, the forward movement of thefiring pin relatively to the housing being Aagainst the influenc Of laycoiled compression spring "I yiriterp''osed between astep 9 protrudinginwardly Sat lthe front 'er-id of tl'e bore of the housing-and a step T8formed the front-end ofthe bod-y part of the firing-pin. j'Il he reasonfor this very small relative ldispla'cement Yof lthe ringp'in .and-thehousingis b'ecau'sefthat lby ni'eans of -the present invention,thecu'stomary coolen-'1g of the Afiring ein vis dispensed with,` theforward movement and the lirirlug ofthe cartridge `bel-ng oontroll'ed`byfjthe contact Vbetween 'a side 'lever y-I0 andtheriring'pinT-at the ftime vthe mecha'- nisrn closes to the locked posi-tion.- That to say theround reared-:ty actua-llpcsiuve dispmce ment of the .cringev sinforward-1v against tntinuence of the spring i7 as the lever L0corripletesgits--forward or loading action. posi- Vtive displacement, orforward pushing of 'the firing' pin-relatively to the housing I isobtained by the provision on the rear part of the ring pin of anabutment surface II located at a suitable angle, e. g. 45 to the axis ofthe ring pin, and a corresponding surface I2 formed on the side leverapproximately midway between its ends,

the front end of the side lever being part of a known toggle actiondevice and being pivoted to a pin I3 passed transversely through thefront part of the housing I, the firing pin being slottedlongitudinallyl as` at I4 to accommodate such transverse pin and toafford the requisite clearance for the reciprocation of the firing pinwithin the housing. The firing pin is forced forwardly to re thecartridge by a face I2 on the side lever striking the face II on thefiring pin at the instant the toggle action on the side lever closes andthe mechanism is locked.

To fire, the sear is depressed, and until it is released, the housing Icarrying the cartridge C1 with it moves forward until the cartridge caseis fully home in the breech and the ring pm makes effective drivingcontact with the base of the cartridge contemporaneously with themovement of the side lever I into axial or paral- Y lel alignment withthe barrel B as shown in Figure 1. By this means cooking mechanism forthe firing pin is obviated.

The cartridges are transported from the feed lbox I8, which is disposedimmediately above the breech, to the barrel by the guide I'I whichrelceives the rim of the appropriate round as aforesaid, and the roundis urged along the anges I'Ia simultaneously by the downward movement ofthe carrier I5 in channels I6 in the guide I'I, thus ultimately bringingthe appropriate cartridge into engagement with the aforesaid springVloaded detent 3 (see Figure 2) in order that the cartridge may belocated correctly at the front 'end of the housing and supported inco-axial -alingment with the barrel. The reciprocating :imovement of thecarrier vertically relatively to the axis of travel of the housing iscontrolled by I'an island type cam, i. e. spaced and opposed inclinedcam surfaces I9 I9', 20 and 23' on a side plate 2| and top cover 22respectively. That is to say the downward movement of the carrier I5 iseffected during the rearward travel of the :horns I5 along the rear ordescending part I9' aof the upper cam surface, and also during the.forward movement of the horns I5 along the --forwardly descending partof the lower cam Asurface, the return or upward movement being gderivedfrom the cam or ramp surfaces 2D.

vWhen a round has been red its case is with- 7drawn as the breech blockis retracted, by reason aof the interengagement of the cartridge caserim and the flanges I'Ia and in due course is ejected by the succeedinground forcing the empty carytridge case downwards over the detent 4.

g Assembled to the said carrier I5 is a spring i loaded ejector 23pivoted on a pin 24 to a slide `25 slidably supported by the carrier forslight vertical reciprocation relatively to the carrier I5, this ejectoroperating to eject the case of the last cartridge from the lower end ofthe flanges -YI'Ia, the flanges in effect forming a T-section slot inthe guide I'I to receive the cartridge case rims. This ejector isdefiected as shown in Figure tI L bythe cartridge C1 in the feed box,and is .thereby caused to be inoperative until there is Ino cartridge inthe belt, when as shown in Fig- ;ure 3, the ejector is urged slightlyforward by v`its spring 26 and with the slide 25 is carried down withthe carrier to its lowermost position as shown in Figure 4 to eject thecartridge case C2 of the last fired cartridge over and beyond theaforesaid spring loaded detent 3. For this latter operation the frontedge of the slide is formed with a recess 21 dimensioned to receivereadily the ejector 23, the ejector comprising a finger pivoted to theslide and spring loaded forwardly as aforesaid by the coiled compressionspring '26, the arrangement being such that the lower part of thisejector is prevented from moving forwardly under the influence of suchspring by reason of its engagement with the base of the appropriatecartridge C1 in the feed box, but following the removal of the lastround in the feed box the ejector 23 is free to move forwardly on itspivot so that its lower end bears against the uppermost point of thebase of the cartridge case and pushes such case downwardly beyond thespring loaded detent. Excepting when the last cartridge case is to beejected the ejector 23 is prevented from being pressed forwardly by itsspring 26 when the cartridge C is positioned (as in Figure 2) in theloading position, by the lower edge of this ejector abutting against astep 28 on the front end of the breech block, thus causing the extractorto be pushed upwards relatively to the carrier so that the lower part ofthe extractor lies behind the corner piece I 5a of the carrier.. Theextractor is formed with a recess or step 23a adapted to slip over thecorner piece IEa when the extractor comes opposite vthe empty feed boxI8 (see Figure 3) so that it cannot now be moved upwardly relatively tothe slide 25 and forms a positive abutment to engage and eject the lastcartridge case as in Figure 4.

I claim:

1.' In a machine vgun of the Vickers type a side lever, a reciprocatingbreech block actuated by said side lever, a firing pin displaceable inand relatively to the breech block, and co-operating opposed abutmentsurfaces on the side lever and ring pin which abut together when theside lever is moved into a position to lock the breech, said ring pinbeing urged forwardly by reason of said engagement of the abuttingsurfaces at the completion of the locking movement ofthe side lever tofire the gun.

and carrying the firing pin, a trailing cam surface on said body, aco-operating abutment surface on the side lever to engage the said camsurface vwhen the lever is in the breech-closed position, and springmeans yieldingly opposing forward displacement of the ring pin to thefiring position and operating to present the cam surface of the saidbody for engagement by the said abutment surface of the side lever.

PERCY REUBEN HIGSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Eickhoff Jan. '17, 1922 Number

